Page 61 of The Wolf's Kidnapped Mate

Liam released his sister and hauled me from the ground to wrap me in a stiff hug. He clapped me on the back with a sniffle. “Look alive.”

“Your fucking sister played dead, bro.”

Laughter erupted around us. Goddess, it was so surreal to stand there in the chill of West Virginia mountain air with my closest friend who I hadn’t seen in years clutching me tightly like the day he couldn’t find Kylie.

Greenville, I thought.That’s right. She disappeared for a few days in Greenville. Liam was worried sick.

Liam yanked me inside along with his sister. The two of us were shoved deeper into the cabin, urged to go into the spare bedrooms to freshen up. I was urged to go to the rear bedroom while Kylie went to the one located on the right. Time suddenlyfelt strange—slow yet fast—and I found myself standing in a pretty souped-up bathroom with a glass shower, a rustic basin sink, and shimmering white tiles.

White towels, white soap bars, whiteeverything. The place looked like something right out of a designer magazine. I’d perused plenty of those during my boring days of selling forged documents and various plants on the black market. Most of the time, I waited for clients to come my way. That meant a lot of reading material.

Or a lot of hacking.

The sound of rushing water came from the other side of the wall. I could only assume it was Kylie, running an extra hot shower.Fuck, I could go for one of those right now. I dropped the blanket, reached into the glass shower, and turned it as hot as it could go.

Within minutes, the compact bathroom was steamed up. I stepped under the water and audibly groaned loud enough to make somebody in the cabin laugh. My hearing was sharpened still from the run, from spending so much time in caves, mines, and borrowed cabins.

So much time had been spent with Kylie. So many hours had been left to silence. Neither of us had gotten a chance to discuss what had happened over the past four days. I couldn’t seem to sort through it myself, the exhaustion making my bones feel like mud and my brain feel like mush.

What happens on a mission, stays on a mission.

Yet despite how many times that phrase circled my brain, I kept thinking about Kylie, about her delicious skin and her soft mewls. A possessive growl escaped me as I bowed toward the tile wall, resting my elbows against the warm surface to steadymyself. I peered down at the drain that carried away the grime, dirt, the guilt…

My head snapped up. What did I need to feel guilty about? I’d done my job as promised. I had protected Kylie at all costs.

The deed was done. It was over.

So, why the hell did I feel like I needed to go into the next room and steal her away from here?

I forced myself to finish my shower and dried myself with one of the white towels. I yanked on a pair of jeans that I located above the toilet and the black shirt sitting underneath. The sounds coming from the next room had ceased. When I padded into the spare bedroom, I found socks on the bed. I found a pile of protein bars and shakes. I tore one of the bars open and devoured it in two seconds as I grabbed one of the shakes.

On my way to the living room, I cracked open the shake. Chocolate tasted like goddamn heaven on my tongue as I tipped it back. My energy seemed to return quickly, and that was damn good timing considering the scene I stumbled upon in the living room.

Tension as dense as the forests we had used for cover hung in the air. Karla and Cora sat on a sofa near the porch door. Kylie sat on the couch adjacent to the hallway with her back to me, hair dripping wet on a towel around her shoulders. Liam stood across the room in front of an old box television that took up most of the corner.

No portraits on the walls. No art. Scarce was the style for safe houses these days, it seemed. Other than the fake evergreen plant sitting near the end of the couch where I was heading, the room didn’t hold much.

Except for the tension. Shit, I could have cut right through it with an axe.

Liam stood about my height with thick muscular arms taut across his broad chest and reddish hair combed away from his forehead. Thick dark brows furrowed hard, creating a curved line at the bridge of his aquiline nose. Hazel eyes sparked with green and yellow in a mixture of hazy brown, angry enough to make me lift one of my brows in curiosity.

“Something going on?” I asked. I capped the protein drink and held it loosely in my hand at my side. I looked at Kylie who was staring blankly at the porch door. “Kylie?”

Liam snarled, “Don’ttalk to her.”

I shot him a piercing glare. “You’re not my commander.”

“No, but this ismymission.”

“That you sentmeto complete for you. Or did you forget that fact?”

Kylie jumped from the couch and held her hands between us. “I didn’t mean to start a fight. It’s not like it’s serious.”

“What?” Liam and I barked at the same time.

My reaction was out of sheer exasperation because I had no idea what was going on. His was seemingly from shock.

Kylie rubbed her neck, the right side that still bore the hickey-like mark I had given her this morning.

---